Ward 3 Council Race Is a Referendum on Connecticut Ave Protected Bike Lanes
The current effort to add protected bike lanes on Connecticut Ave is in its fifth year. It started in 2017 with Van Ness Main Street and their campaign to study removing the reversible lanes and look into the inclusion of bike lanes. Cleveland Park followed up with a proposed amendment to the Comp Plan to do the same. In 2018, the ANC’s along Connecticut Ave formally passed resolutions to study bike lanes. By 2019 DDOT agreed to do the study, and by the end of the year data collection had begun. Over 50 meetings later, many proposals and revisions, and multiple ANC resolutions, the Mayor announced in December of 2021 that, yes, DDOT would move forward with ending the reversible lanes and planning for protected bike lanes on Connecticut Avenue, and the concept that would be used in the design phase would be Concept C. All the while, the chief advocate for the plan was Ward 3 Council Member Mary Cheh.
Fast forward to the Democratic Primary in the spring of 2022 to select the nominee to succeed Mary Cheh, and every Democratic candidate in the race stood up in support of the Connecticut Ave bike lanes. Only the Republican, David Krucoff, was opposed to the plan. He has made it a central issue in his campaign.
Throughout the fall, some residents have attempted to turn back the clock on the decision to move forward with the bike lanes on Connecticut Ave. There have been petitions and yard signs and efforts to lobby DDOT and the Mayor. Some ANC candidates like Rick Nash and Nick Ide in Cleveland Park have campaigned against Concept C. But the key race to watch on Election Day is the Ward 3 Council race between Democrat Matt Frumin, an advocate for the protected bike lanes, and Republican David Krucoff, perhaps the most ardent opponent of them.
This has been the most high profile issues in this race. Should Matt Frumin win on Tuesday, it will send a clear message to the District, to DDOT and to the Mayor that Ward 3 voters have spoken. The Ward 3 Council race is a referendum on Connecticut Ave bike lanes for the few people out there who need any additional convincing that the public is indeed supportive.